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George Porter Jr, Robert Randolph, Nicki Bluhm, Booker T and More Sit In at Snowlive

George Porter Jr., Robert Randolph, The Slide Brothers, Big Sam Williams, The Shady Horns, Nicki Bluhm and more joined Soulive for their four-night Snowlive run at the Crystal Bay Club Casino February 20-23. On the first night, the band was joined by Big Sam and Lettuce’s Shady Horns for most of the show, with Nikki Crawford of Orgone, sitting in for the second half of a first set that included a rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools.” Booker T. Jones also hopped in at the beginning of the second set, which featured covers of Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign” and the Staples Singers’ “I’ll Take You There.”

The Shady Horns and Big Sam both sat in again for the second half of the first on night two. Robert Randolph then came out for the entirety of the second set, which included some choice covers of The Undisputed Truth’s “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” and Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Lenny” before a set closing trio of Jimi Hendrix’s “3rd Stone from the Sun,” “Foxy Lady” and “Crosstown Traffic.” The horns appeared once again for “Vapor” and “Flurries” during a first set that also included Soulive’s take on The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” on the third night of the run. George Porter Jr. then took up bass duties for the full second set and Papa Mali took the stage a few songs in.

On the final night of Snowlive, the horns made their last cameo for the majority of set one. The second set once again featured Goerge Porter Jr. on bass, and Papa Mali joined in again after a few songs. Nicki Bluhm also came out for a version of Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is” before sticking around for a few tunes, and the set featured plenty of other covers including Lauryn Hill’s “Everything is Everything,” the Grateful Dead’s “Mr. Charlie,” Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart,” Funkadelic’s “Can You Get To That,” Bob Marley’s “Stop That Train” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “If You Want Me To Stay.” The show came to a close with The Meters’ “Ain’t No Use.”

Snowlive also featured a couple of after parties in the casino’s Red Room, with acts like Robert Randolph and the Slide Brothers, The Revivialists, Soulive with the Shady Horns and the Salvador Santana Band. As previously reported, Soulive will be playing at the Brooklyn for eight-nights with a variety of special guests for the fourth annual Bowlive, which begins next week.